


A Week-Long Trip

by Kfirpanther3



Series: Imaginationland Stories [6]
Category: Grand Theft Auto Series, Grand Theft Auto V, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Persona 3, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - No Personas (Persona Series), Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Based off Jalopy, Established Relationship, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Jalopy without the Jalopy MC or Uncle Lutfi, Rating May Change, as always things can change at this point, implied alcohol use
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2020-05-07 04:41:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19202095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kfirpanther3/pseuds/Kfirpanther3
Summary: Makoto and Aigis take a summer trip to visit his parents and work there for a while (does 3-4 months count?)





	1. Let's go!

**Author's Note:**

> Some background: Makoto and Aigis are basically normal humans with mostly normal backgrounds (Makoto doesn’t have dead parents nor he ain’t dead; Aigis being a human), they’re not connected to their source material (they’re not part of the SEES and so on, in this story). Yes, other Persona 3 characters might be mentioned or added but not in a way that mentions the plot or uses the game’s original plot, I'll put them because I want to. Oh and btw, I made them into 38 year olds with the same birthdate, and they have a son when they were 20, whom I’ll mention later. 
> 
> As for the world they’re in, I pretend that the location where they are (which is San Andreas, as in the GTA location) as a Russophone/Russian-style country ,consisting of GTA SA/V people and Anime characters but they all speak Russian, are mostly Russianized unless otherwise, that’s also the fictional equivalent of the Russian Empire and the USSR (size, culture and so on unless otherwise) without the catastrophic endings. Said country belongs into a modified Abeir Toril, hence the use of Russian and DnDish concepts/words/names even if SA is culturally and geographically (canonwise) American. 
> 
> Also GTA places in my stories (geographically) is different from its SA or 5 versions, at least in my works (unless I say otherwise). E.G. Los Santos is a riverine city with a wide river and a river port and corresponds to Moscow.

Somewhere in Flint Oblast (1) 

“Are you ready for the trip?” Makoto Yuki asked his wife, Aigis, as they packed 2 bags onto the car’s trunk, a “Boat” 2107 (Because the Volgas were for anyone with assloads of money or anyone who’s a showoff), and some other necessities for their long trip. (2) They probably would’ve used the train but they realized they had too much baggage to carry, it was much cheaper to drive by car and the trains do not have stations for Lesnogvardejskoe (Makoto’s parents’ hometown - means "[town of the] Forest Guardsman").

“Yeah, I am.” She answered. 

“I posted the letter at the fridge. The beer and the food we put in should last him for days, until he could get some money from the bank at Angel Pine or the summer jobs he works at.” He answered her as both of them nodded in agreement as they went into the car. (3)

But anyway, they had to go. They already preplanned the trip so all they had to do was drive over the routes, although they could change their plans.

“Come on, let’s go!” Aigis told him as he closed the door, leaving their sleeping son, an 19 year old, who we’ll call Vsevolod. Makoto opened both of the two front car doors as he and his wife went in. Before he started the car and push down the handbrake, they pressed their lips at one another and nodded. They then turned their heads towards the general direction of their car 

Makoto started the car, waited for a few minutes, and put down the handbrake. Then he shifted the car to the first gear, coming out of their house leftwards, and went on to the general direction, which was just a two-lane mountain road used by trucks, tourists that were onto the country’s mountains and locals alike. 

He then drove through a long winding gravel road, stopping at its end which led to a three-way junction, a highway that either led to Los Santos or to other places like San Fierro and Rodiongrad. He looked at both sides, if there were incoming cars in either direction.

In the meantime, Aigis pulled out a DVD. 

“Ah, I forgot. I should’ve put one for you earlier. You chose one already?”

“Yeah. It’s Alisa, from _Nervnaja Noč’_ to _Jazz_.” (4)

“That’s good. You have _Šabaš_?” (4B)

“Yeah, it has _Šabaš_.”

“Ah, thanks, Aigis.” 

As they went uphill, they saw themselves coming to a column of vehicles. Neither Makoto nor Aigis could see why it happened but he slowed the car. 

“I wonder why they’re slowing down?” Makoto asked Aigis. 

“Perhaps a checkpoint? I could see a slow vehicle though.” she replied as she peeked over the right window.

“Oh, it’s just a slow moving combine harvester.” Makoto peeked again. He wanted to overtake but he couldn’t because the opposite side had oncoming vehicles every time he wanted to do it. He should either move on right side of the dirt part of the road or let the combine driver move. 

“Talking of which, didn’t The Truth borrowed your sister’s Belarus for his farm?” he added a question to Aigis, referring to the tractor. (5)

“Yeah, he did and he'll bring it back himself to my sister.” Aigis replied. (6)

“Hey, uh, any texts from Trevor?” Makoto referred to his main boss, the infamous psychopath (well he was actually kind to the two of them and to some other people, but otherwise, don’t think of it). 

“He said he’ll come after. We have to photograph and archive whatever they do.” 

Their actual jobs were arms dealers that sold old unloved weapons/arms designers/consultants for the gun business (either for the government or for their semi-nomadic boss/family friend Trevor, but mostly Trevor) and made suggestions for certain markets (e.g. rural regions or cities), though they were called to photograph and archive as well (also for both). (7)

“Phil?” (8)

“Nah.”

“Ok, then.” Makoto answered as he waited for the combine harvester to change the latter’s decision. He then added, “I want to overtake him but I don’t want to take the risk.”  
Well, it WAS legal, but the trucks that come along on the left (on another direction) side of the road. 

“Well, we can’t do anything but wait for him to move.”

Suddenly the harvester went to the right. 

“Looks like the gods listened to what you said.” Makoto joked. They and the subsequent drivers sped up and went different ways. 

They went on with the general path for several hours, either going uphill or downhill through mountainous forests and small towns. After reaching a certain uphill point, Makoto would push a bit more until he stopped pushing on the gas pedal whenever the car went downhill. This went on for several more hours, since he had no problems going around. 

That is... until they find themselves by the outskirts of Los Santos, the capital of the Kingdom. It was already 11:00. So they parked somewhere along the west part of the city, at a branch of the Kingdom’s _State Department Store_ because they wanted to take a break but couldn’t do so because there weren’t any parking lots in that area and they’d probably get a heavy fine. Fucking Los Santosites. 

While they planned to take the outer ring road that would lead them to Lesnogvardejskoe, that didn’t happen. They soon got a text from Trevor. (9A)

“Take the other route, the second ring road. They’re adding a bunch of lanes on the outer ring.” Trevor sent a message to them. 

Makoto took a sigh...

“Aigis, it seems we can’t take the outer ring.” 

“Oh, I see. So what do we do now?”

“Trevor suggested taking the second ring road and going to Las Venturas instead.”

Although they were aware it takes a week for the city government to do whatever with the city’s roads; it just so happened they can’t take that road on that day. 

So they went off again and took a detour. They went right to the inner ring road, went straight until they got into another intersection going to the boulevard ring road. Once there, they went on without any major traffic jams, but saw some other changes being added, apart from the usual huge ass buildings they always see whenever they were in LS. 

“Aigis, did you see the new signs they’re popping?”

“Yeah, they’re planning to add some new shit to these roads, like more pedestrian crossings and more stop signs or the conversion of some streets into pedestrian only areas.” 

“I guess it’s the mayor wants to make the city less imposing on everybody.”

“Yeah, I think so. Also, the victory parade is getting near.” Makoto emphasized the last sentence as he looked around, he saw a banner that read “Happy Victory Day - Thank you All! We remember!”, in blue. (10) 

“Pretty much, indeed.”

They also managed to see the Grove Square from a distance. (9B) 

“Hey, remember the war stories your granddad told us?” Aigis asked her husband as he drove and looked at a bit of the square. 

“Yeah, I do. I think he was an infantryman. He ended up somewhere in Ballasia but not at the capital, the last time my dad checked the records. He and his unit and their families miraculously survived.” (9C)

“You still remember how we attended two events in one day?”

“Yeah. One with Trevor and the one for my family?”

“Yeah. Trevor even apologized to us!” 

In response, Makoto just laughed since it was unusual for Trevor to apologize, let alone be kind to most people. Makoto and Aigis were the only few people that Trevor did not harm. 

“Although I admit,” he added, while looking straight to the road. “Trevor still terrifies the both of us. I think he killed Floyd’s girlfriend, even if Trevor supposedly wanted to protect Floyd. S U P P O S E D L Y.” he emphasized the last sentence for emphasis.  
“Damn. True enough. We’re the only ones besides Franklin to calm his ass. But he's terrified to even fight us.” 

An hour later, he stopped at an intersection leading them out of Los Santos, waiting for the other side of the intersection (west and east) to finish their turn moving. He looked at a road sign above their car which said “Голубика - Мусаново - Вентурас - M3” in columns, which meant they’d use that highway to go to their hometown. (9D)  
It was already 14:00. He wondered out loud...

“What do you think Vseva is doing right now?”

“He’s probably buying extra food and some other parts he needed. If not, he’s preparing which to buy and what not to buy. I’ll text him.” Aigis answered as the north and southbound vehicles had their turn to move. She also pulled out her cellphone and sent their son a message. 

“Alright then,” Makoto shifted the gear back to the first, turned on the right signal light and went right to the M3 road or the Rošča road. (9E)

They kept straight through the M3, passing through some towns for six hours, talking while driving. They only stopped talking when they were out of breath. In the meantime, Aigis read a novel, _Battalions Request Fire_ by Jurij Bondarev. (11A)

“You should read _The Shore_ , by the way.” (11B)

“I know. It’s part of my plans.”

“By the way, we’re already in Las Venturas. What time is it?”

Aigis looked at her wristwatch on the right. 

“It’s 20:43.” 

“Well, just at the right time. Should we fuel this car?” 

“Yeah we should.”

“And where should we sleep at?”

“As usual, the _Last Dime_.”, referring to a certain motel, and added. “It’s nearest and the cheapest that we can actually take. (12)

“Alright then, besides we need to refuel this thing.”

“And I’ll check the car.”

As they entered the city’s gates, they went to the rightmost street, which had a refueling station, in front of Trevor’s friendly competitor, the state-owned Ammu-Nation. After that, they ended the first part of their trip when they parked at the motel’s parking lot and went inside, carrying clothes and some utilities on their backs.  
They went in and paid the cost of 50 R. (13)

“Your room is at 2F.”

“Spasibo.” Makoto replied as he gave the payment and received the keys. They went to their room and found out it was “ok”. A bed, a TV receiver, two chairs, a table, a medium-sized refrigerator (they put some beer bottles before they slept), and a bathroom. And for once, it had an air conditioner, especially in the summer (damn right, Aigis told Makoto).  
After they changed to nightclothes, ate dinner from the motel (well the food quality was meh, both said), they drank some beer to end the night.

“Let’s drink to a good trip, which is also a job.” Aigis laughed at Makoto’s addition as they intertwined their arms to drink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like the story of Jalopy (but I’m not taking the story as it is, because I liked the “visit some lands in an Eastern Bloc vehicle” idea) so I thought, why not? Also I write stories like this because I like writing for the pairings I like even if it removes their characterization or removes certain concepts from their stories, so it will always be OOCing. Same goes for locations. I only apologize for my terrible English.
> 
> For location names they’re either from Donjon (using the fantasy, Russian/Chinese/Japanese/Malian names list) and from GTA, e.g. Prospekt BJa Smitha (BJ Smith avenue) or Karlskoe Šosse (Carl Johnson Avenue) or just made up.  
> As for the trip itself it is mostly inspired from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvOJsdvlMA0
> 
> Here come the footnotes:
> 
> 1 - You guess it; it’s not some Persona 3 fic with SEES, Shadows, Nyx and so on. Их нет тут в Фанфике. (They aren’t in this fanfic). It’s based off Jalopy except the car they use is a Lada and it lasts them for much longer in comparison to the Laika (Trabant) in Jalopy. Oblast refers to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblast  
> 2 - AKA VAZ 2107, Lada Riva and so on, because 1: SA is Russified in this story, 2: I love Russian vehicles.  
> 3 - My My my Summer Summer Caaaarrr!  
> 4 - Konstantin Kinčev - lead of the Russian band Alisa. 5B - A live Alisa album.  
> 5 - https://st.mascus.com/imagetilewm/product/63556e35/belarus-mtz-82,c93fc4bb.jpg As for “whodat?” he’s the hippie in GTA:SA.  
> 6 - Yeah, it’s none other than Mitsuru of course. Yeah I know of a character named Metis or Labrys but I’m not going to use all of the Persona characters, since I’m adding in GTA characters like Trevor, Lamar and so on. It’d also depend if I like said character or not.  
> 7 - Canon versions have guns, even if they're called Evokers. Makoto has a "gun", Aigis has guns. So I basically made them multi-talented arms designers/dealers/consultants who work for civilian and government arms companies, like Trevor and/or Ammu-Nation. Also I want arms dealers as characters, except they're not even arms dealers in their canon.  
> 8 - As in Phil Cassidy  
> 9A/B/so on - Yeah, most of the names do not exist in GTA lore and canon so... idk. :DDD but some of the the names are from GTA-series. Вентурас - (Las) Venturas, Мусаново from Donjon as always, Мелвин of course comes from Melvin Harris AKA Big Smoke. Eventually I’ll probably add in more names (from Gangsta terms and whatnot) and as always, Russify them as always as possible. Rošča - Grove in Russian, coming from Grove Street. Said name is a river in this GTA and DND based AU and corresponds with the Volga.  
> 10 - IRL version: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Day_(9_May)  
> 11A and 11B - Also known as Bataljony Prosjat Ognja/Батальоны Просят Огня in Russian, made into a movie in 1985. The second tells about a Soviet officer who found out a German woman still loves him.  
> 12 - The Motel in Las Venturas https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Last_Dime_Motel  
> 13- It’s from Jalopy, except its 50 instead of 20 DDR Marks.


	2. Passing a Closed City

Aigis woke to a sleeping Makoto, who rested his left hand on her side and the other behind her back. She first checked if one of their phones had an answer. Turns out their son read the manual and bought necessary things yesterday, though he’ll get them a few days from now. 

“Wake up, Kotka.” She had nicknames for him, and so did he, while she laid her right hand on his face and his head. 

“Mhm, morning, Giška.” Makoto weakly muttered as his hands went up and down on her. (1)

But it wasn’t forever because they stopped it after several minutes. 

“How’s Seva?” Makoto asked. 

“Well, he bought some things and read what we wrote.”

“Oh, that’s good. What time is it?” Makoto asked as Aigis reached for her watch. 

“It’s 600.”

“Too early for the both of us. Wanna sleep again?”

“Yeah. I’m the one driving for today.”

And both went off to sleep, just like a few hours before.

Later, Aigis woke up and checked the time. It was 750, almost the right time. So they fixed themselves, ate a light breakfast and made it sure they left nothing. It helps to be a bit paranoid, yes?

It was also Aigis’ turn to drive. They agreed they change places whenever they drove longer distances that the usual (read: +500kms distance) unless one of them got tired. After getting out of the motel, they sat in their positions. Sitting on the driver’s seat, Aigis changed her seat’s position a bit closer to the steering column and the rear-view mirror. She didn’t have problems with the left or rear mirrors, then started the car by planting the key in its ignition, waited it for a few seconds and started the car. Makoto on the other hand turned put a DVD of Lighthouse Family into the vehicle audio and took a book, also written by Jurij Bondarev.

Leaving San Fierro’s casinos, their scenery gradually changed back to a rural setting, hills, plains and some mountains covered in forests of birch and pine, lakes and rivers. What also accompanied them was the construction of another road. 

“It’s the first time we’re seeing a road being built here. I think it’s for the increased traffic coming from cities like Los Santos and San Fierro, apart from the usual travellers like us.”  
“Yeah, especially the tourists from San Fierro and Los Santos.”

For a few more hours the scenery porn and the road construction went on. 

“It’s like we’re in a loop, or something.” Makoto joked as Aigis laughed. 

Until that is, they recognized one tell-tale sign they were coming to another city, an aircraft landing overhead, in a slightly different direction to which they were going. 

So they’re going to visit another city, yes? Yes. It was called Ankransk. A city whose importance comes from several reasons: it produced some of San Andreas’ tools and components (like wrenches, car parts, other tools and parts), vehicles and precision-based machines; historically, one of the Royal Family’s fortresses when the Johnson (main Royal Family), Wu and Vialpando families formed their armies before fighting the Tenpennys in Los Santos; and a present and important attraction (to San Andreans): the All-San Andreas Trade Fair. (2)

The trade fair was a yearly event, with its main headquarters and main centre at the Kundanov district at a red-bricked neoclassical building, along with 70 buildings, 3,000 bazaars, 8,500 exhibits complete with goods for sale. This included Trevor’s company. 

It was open every year (the earliest recorded fair was 2,000 years ago) except during the last two wars throughout Imaginationland. While it was true that the city was often closed to non-San Andreans, exceptions were only made during the fair, such as Midgar’s Zelena Zastava, Russia’s VAZ or its Kalašnikov Koncern. (3)

As they approached the city, they found themselves waiting in front of the toll gate, waiting along with other visitors to get in. A shitload of them, because they saw vans and other vehicles belonging to companies. 

“Oh yeah, it’s the trade fair.” Aigis told him and he nodded.

Despite a tourists’ and businessmen’s attraction, the city wasn’t completely open. Unless you were: San Andrean or a foreigner with a special permission, you weren’t allowed to get in. It was closed because it also produced certain parts, tools and other components, which were important to the Kingdom’s defence. (4)

“Makoto, our passports.” Aigis reminded him as he looked for it in her sling bag, which was located on the left side of Makoto’s left foot. He opened its contents and took the two passports. 

They stopped at one of the said gates and a uniformed man (from the Policija) looked and asked for their passports. Along with him were armed policemen. 

“Your passports, please.” said the man. 

Makoto handed the passports to Aigis, who then turned them in to the man. The policeman looked at it for a while and looked at the policemen who finished inspecting the car for anything dangerous (guns didn’t count since most people in San Andreas owned guns). In their case, they had 2 AKS-74Us under the boot. 

After a while, the policeman gave them their passports and let them go. 

Entering Ankransk, their eyes met buildings that were purely for function, were made of precast concrete, had flat roofs, stuccoed walls, and had an industrial expression. 

“Next time we come here to visit as tourists, we should take photos, especially the railway station you like so much.” Aigis joked at Makoto, who just laughed. 

“I just liked it for the Funkis-style design.” (5) He answered as he read Bondarev’s _The Last Salvoes_ , or was probably reading the other novel, _Hot Snow_ , by the same author. (5b) Seeing that Makoto was reading, she concentrated more on driving. But suddenly he closed the book and put it onto the glove compartment and pull out a CJD Compact from the car’s shelf. At the same time, she also stopped the car, because there was a pedestrian crossing and it so happened that pedestrians crossed it. On the left side of the car, trams (separated from the automobiles by a barricade) in opposite directions also stopped. 

“You finished the book?” She asked as she looked at pedestrians crossing the trams’ pathways as well, along with pedestrians going to the trams. 

“Well, I was reading it two days before. Also, I want to play _A Konkurs-man in the battlefield_.” The game was basically an artillery shooting game for the CJD Compact, where one (in this case, Makoto) play an anti-tank artilleryman using a Konkurs launcher, fighting Ballas tanks. They actually played it whenever one of them got bored. And if both were bored, one of them would play and the other would just watch. (6)

“Kotka, you hungry? I am.” Said Aigis as she put the gear back to the first, when the traffic signal went green. 

“Yeah, me too.”

After crossing the bridge, Aigis drove for a bit more until she went to the parking lot of a Russian restaurant, which was located along the city’s busiest thoroughfare that led eastward. 

“Then I’ll go to Russian Tastes.” She then pointed at the restaurant with the signage written with the name. It was their favourite restaurant, because 1: they appreciated Russian cuisine (they loved Golubcy with Smetana, Plov and Soljanka with Smetana) when they went to Moscow, and second, it was the nearest to the fair’s grounds and went along with the general direction of the city to the next one. Once they parked the car in front of the restaurant, they visited said restaurant and ordered their lunch.

While they ate… they also enjoyed the scenic view

“Since when was the last time we even ate Russian food?” Aigis asked as she ate Plov.

“A long time, I guess.” Makoto answered, as he ate cabbage rolls (Golubcy) with Smetana. “You want?” he offered her. 

“Yeah, sure. Get some of mine as well.” Aigis answered as Makoto then gave her some of his food, as Aigis gave her bowl of Plov so he can eat some of it. 

While eating, Aigis began to remember what they did some years before, because she saw an AN-2 flying around the city with a banner attached to it.

“You still remembered what Ron did? Launch leaflets in a rented AN-2 over the fair’s areas, 10 years ago?” she asked as Makoto turned his head and looked at it as well. 

“Yeah, it caused a ruckus for everybody. The ments asked us as well, though they never knew who really hatched the plan.” After Makoto ended that sentence, they evilly laughed, because they planned the whole idea all along. (7)

“It was Trevor who sought... unusual attention for our company. We proposed the idea and how to do it. He liked it so much he approved it instantly. You and I even told him we can do it, but he vehemently said 'no.'" He did relent though. 

After eating lunch, they left the city and went on to the countryside. Like entering the city, they also left it under the watch of armed policemen and their tollgates. 

As Aigis kept driving, two things kept her entertained, the sounds from their vehicle audio (it played Lighthouse again) and her husband playing that game of theirs. The Lighthouse Family collection ended and Makoto pulled out another DVD, this time a collection of Grace Jones’ music, randomly taking a song, titled _Walking in the Rain_. 

“It’s our favourite… Grace Jones.” 

“Yeah, I thought I forgot the DVD to bring along. I didn’t even think of it until now. Thanks, Koka.” Aigis looked a bit at Makoto and then continued driving. Zooming through four-lane roads, their lane also had other vehicles, such as other cars, buses or trucks, whether they’re the rigid type or the semi-trailer type. 

"Welcome." he replied.

Sometimes, when there weren’t cars that didn’t appear on the other side (in the same direction), Aigis overtook some other slow-moving vehicles (that ran in the same direction as theirs). He didn’t mind her overtaking nor did Aigis mind Makoto doing the same thing as well. Besides, the road was straight and flat for a hundred kilometres with way better sight compared to overtaking in their home area. But neither of them would overtake cars through another lane that ran in the opposite direction.

Makoto on the other hand played a different game on the CJD Compact, a game called _TASS Is Authorized to Declare_ … which was an action game like those SOCOM except its protagonists were Soviet spies, complete with a voice by Vjačeslav Tihonov and other original actors. By the time it was 1800 (aka 6PM), he opened up a bag of chips and a bottle of water, so they can eat/drink while passing the time. 

They also crossed some towns and major cities that did not really play a role in their lives (in comparison to cities like Los Santos). Besides, the main road that crossed these towns and cities only used a really small part of the said places’ territory. 

Not much occurred and the road followed the general direction to the east of the country. That is until they ended up in the city of Asaroščec. It was going night (20:40) and Aigis drove to the place whenever they always slept in that city, a bigger motel/rest area than The Last Dime. 

Getting a parking spot, Aigis put the gear back to neutral, pulled up the parking brake, and then turned off the car. Both of them went out to the motel’s building, Aigis preparing her wallet. Until that is…

“Do you guys have a room for tonight?” Makoto asked.

A receptionist read the list of available rooms. 

“Sorry homies, there’s no more room.” Said the receptionist.

“Ah, I see. But can we sleep outside in our car and use your services, like food?” Aigis asked.

“Well, yeah, you can. Just don’t cause any trouble.” Again, the receptionist.

“Thanks, then.” Makoto thanked the receptionist.

“Aight, welcome, homies.” 

If a motel was full, they’d go park their car either at another motel/rest area and sleep there. But since they were too tired to drive to another motel and the motel they just went to doesn’t mind them sleeping in the area, they’d stay in the car and fix its rear seat so they can turn it into some bed. 

So after eating dinner (thank the gods Aigis parked the car in front of the canteen) and fixed themselves for the night, they returned to the car so they can turn it into a bed i mean sleep for the night. 

Aigis opened the car’s left rear door and placed the pillows on the left side of the driver’s seat while Makoto pulled out the windshield cover and placed it on said windshield, and covered the other windows with cardboard. Then, she went out and opened the boot, so Makoto can get three boxes (as an extension of their so-called “bed”) and so they can have extra room while sleeping and put it on the floor of the rear area. After that, he also put down the frontal seats, for more space. (8)

“Anything else?” Makoto asked Aigis.

“No, we’re good!” she answered as she closed the boot. 

Once they fixed the car for sleeping, they locked the doors, Makoto put the driver’s window down to 3 centimetres and positioned themselves so they can easily sleep. He put up his arm around the shoulder area as he watched Aigis play another CJD game called Mimino, a port of the famous movie. (9)

“I like Rubik more than Mimino himself even if Mimino’s a sympathetic character. Why? He’s an asshole at Papašvili and not just that, he didn’t even help and marry the woman he promised.” Makoto commented as they watched Mimino talk about going to Moscow’s Big Theatre (read: Bolšoj Theatre). 

“Yeah, I felt sorrier at Rubik when the other Hačikjan shat on him.” Aigis told him, referring to the scene which professor Hačikjan (played by Leonid Kuravljov) told Rubik Hačikjan (played by Frunzik Mkrtčjan) that he was a disgrace to their republic. 

They did finish the movie but they were so sleepy she just closed the CJD compact and both closed their eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Based off https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%B3%D0%B0%D1%84%D1%8C%D1%8F. I just made up the "Giška" from said name. Kotka comes from Konstantin (other nicknames based off Konstantin will be used for Makoto), except I made up nicknames for Makoto (using the Кот or Ко portion of the word). The use of -ka denotes lots of familiarity.  
> 2\. Once again, from Donjon. It never ends... this shit :DDD  
> 3\. Zelena Zastava - Midgar's Crvena Zastava.  
> 4\. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed_city From Wiki: "People not living in a closed city were subject to document checks and security checkpoints, and explicit permission was required for them to visit." RL Nižnij Novgorod was also a "Closed City" except most Soviet citizens can move in freely.  
> 5 and 5b. https://cdn1.ozone.ru/multimedia/c1200/1000727153.jpg also, for the word "Funkis", it's a term for Functionalist buildings. For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampere_Central_Station  
> 6\. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Fren2y.OneWarrior basis of the fictional game.  
> 7\. For the word "Ments" https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82#Russian Also slang/pejorative.  
> 8\. Like this one https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/-ZAAAOSwOXJbqzx4/s-l300.jpg except it's a 2107.  
> 9\. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimino


	3. Conversations While Crossing the Mountains

Both Makoto and Aigis woke up to their sleep. Makoto’s right arm was on Aigis’ shoulders while Aigis hugged him from the side. The CJD was on her left hand.  


And it was really early, at 500. He checked the time on his wristwatch and the car’s clock, in front of the gearstick, just so he wasn’t dreaming. And he wasn’t. His wife was awake as well, actually at the same exact moment. 

“Morning, Aiguška.” 

“Oh, I thought I ate LSD from the restaurant, Makoška.” 

“Me too. I actually thought we were hallucinating or something and was going to ask you about it. Want sleep? It might be early for you and me.”

“Nah.” 

“Me neither. Before we go, let’s ask Vova how is he. He might need some help later.” he yawned as he whipped out his phone and texted his son. He only texted (and explained) because he was going to drive today, and thus his wife would answer for themselves. He didn’t expect his son to answer immediately, since their son woke up at 700-900. 

“Yeah, I’ll tell them where we are as well.” Aigis added as she produced her phone and typed a message. 

So as usual, they fixed themselves (as always).

An hour later, Mitsuru texted her younger sister, partially awake at 6:10. 

“You know, The Truth brought the tractor home right after you guys left. He even wanted to chat with you two.” Said Mitsuru’s message.

“Who are you texting?” Makoto asked. He put his phone already.

“Mitsuru.” 

Aigis texted “Aww, man! Sorry for texting you really early, because we’ll go soon enough. So what else did he do?”

“There, there. He let us borrow the engine hoist and its tilter so Vova, Junpei (if he’s available) and I can fix the car. Otherwise, he talked about this variety of Marijuana, shrooms and LSD he had.” 

“Ah, that’s good!” she replied. “Tell us what will happen next! We want some of it!” 

“We will!” 

“We’ll be going as well!” 

“Tell Makoto’s parents my greetings!” 

“Sure, until then! Sleep again if you have to.”

“Thank you!” 

After that, Aigis put down the phone. 

“So what happened?” 

“Well, The Truth brought back the tractor, when we left. He also let my sister borrow his engine hoist in return and has a new batch of Marijuana, LSD and Shrooms. She wants us to say hi to your parents.” 

“Ah, that’s good. That should lessen their time fixing the car. We should also do some maintenance, even if this car is extremely tough and reliable.” Makoto told her. 

“Yeah, I don’t want our car to get broke or something.”

So before they left the place, they checked the car for any damage. So far, no damage, although they did remove particles of wood and nails from the 2107’s tires. They also washed said car, because the roads were dusty and dust had accumulated on its sides and front while they drove. 

After that, they checked other things, like the engine oil (a week before, they changed it), oil pressure and consumption (no problems), hoses and belts (still running fine, no need to replace them), engine coolant (2/3s full), brakes, battery, transmission fluids (no need, yet) and lastly, tire pressure (the kg/cms are nice). They then went around the motel and felt nothing terrible. Once again, it helps to be a bit paranoid. 

But in case shit really happens (in the 10 years since they had it, the only major damage was some scratch in a major accident) they always had a shitload of spare parts in a box: a contract breaker, a distributor pump, some hoses, some lengths of wires, an oil pump gear, a diesel fuel pump, water pump, light switches, radiator pipes, fuses, a flame-start system, fuel hose, alternator regulator and brushes, insulation tape, test lamps, a battery, oh, and an extra turbocharger. They’ve been doing weekly maintenance and no problems happen anyway.

It wasn’t because there weren’t any mechanics, it was because the car was so easy to repair they can actually do it themselves, or with one person. It was the main selling point of Boat cars/Ladas and similar vehicles, they were so easy to repair you don’t need to go to the mechanic. You just have to fit things like a puzzle.  
So anyway, it looks like they’re good to go once more. 

It was 7:00, and alternately, it’s Makoto who drove this time. He inserted the key, waited for a few minutes started the car (whose sound was louder, because it runs on a diesel equivalent) and turned on the headlights. For a while, they sat and looked, because it took some time for the Samogon-engined 2107 to warm up. After that, Makoto then reversed the car out of the parking lot. (1) For the sake of gratitude, they paid the guard a hundred rubles. 

They left the city and now went through roads that were surrounded by forests and over the distance, mountains, more specifically the Ganton mountain range. If they went left along their current direction, they’d go to the tallest mountains of the Kingdom, more specifically Mount Chiliad. You’d expect me to give them a difficult time driving but this ain’t their first time! :DDD 

There was less of urban architecture and more of natural surroundings, with the exception of some road signs and construction works. Traffic was still the same except there were more trucks. (2)

So they had some eye candy in the form of forests surrounding their line of sight. What also made the trip pleasant was that Aigis put in a DVD of Cocteau Twins. They didn’t understand English that much but they liked the way it was made. 

They actually had a shitload of music files (on a PC) downloaded from a Russian website and put them on DVDs, because packing them in USB sticks would be a pain in the ass (they’re small and might not fit an entire discography) + they don’t use the radio too much because East Coast hiphop started to dominate the airwaves of the All-Kingdom radio. Besides, they weren’t fans of East Coast hiphop from the viewpoint of loyalty. If they wanted news they listened to it for a while and asked from their friends, since the news they read usually involved their region or anything from the arms trade (neither great, nor terrible, unless we’re talking about the other world).

Education shows on the other hand were at another channel. They loved listening _The Art of Gun Design_ (lifelong interest of theirs) by Svjatoslav Džeter and Barrett Wallace (they met the fellows at an arms fair, pretty nice ones too), but the radio didn’t have any episodes because the run ended, soon to be replaced by _The Art of Artillery Design_ , also by the same hosts. (3)

“I’d be happy if they kept The Art of Gun Design,” Makoto started. “But they said they’re planning a new show next week or so, the one they call _The Art of Artillery Design_.”

“We should see it,” Aigis answered. 

“I still want to understand the 2A20 and the D-81TM gun.” 

“Yeah, there’s so much history behind it. I heard the T-62 managed to destroy supposedly better Chieftain tanks, from what I heard.”

“It’s not really the guns that decide the victory. It’s somebody behind it, if you ask me, though it’s not always the case.”

They drove through forests and the endless road. While going through forests, they talked about his family. The Kirijos that Makoto knew and loved were also one of their nearest neighbors. Apart from his wife and his sister-in-law, a few kilometres from their residence, the Kirijos’ parents lived at another residence. 

“So, are you interested meeting your other cousins, uncles and aunts, if we see them?” Aigis asked. 

“Eh, not really, but their children I mean, my cousins that hang around with me? I don’t mind, although my other cousins are either living there or are scattered. Maksim still hangs around, owns the TV and computer repair shop. Irina’s in Rodiongrad and the other one… forgot the name, I think Naoya? Then there’s uncle Vasilij from the Army. He’s been living near my parents’ house since he retired 4 years ago.” 

“Yeah, it’s Naoya.”

“Right. He’s in San Fierro, a jazz musician like his namesake.” (4)

“Oh yeah, didn’t Irina invite us to her marriage?” 

“Yeah. Four of us actually. You, me, our son, Mitka.” Mitka referred to Mitsuru. 

“And of course, everybody’s beloved dog, Koromaru!” Makoto happily emphasized on the last word.

“Oh, gods!” Aigis cried out. "We should meet him once we're there!" Aigis ended the conversation and played the CJD again, this time titled Franco-German Cars Grand Prix, which was just Gran Turismo except the cars are French and German vehicles including the Trabant. The tracks consisted of Mario Kart-like tracks as well. Then again, it didn’t help the fact the game came from the same developer as Fridge Racer. 

Seeing a monument at a distance, Makoto and Aigis agreed to take a short rest. 

“You want a rest? My legs and hands are fine, but I want to take this a bit slower, because you know, we like seeing forests?” He asked her as he put his right hand on the gear stick, preparing to put the gear from 4 to 3. 

“Yeah, why not?” she answered. 

“Thanks, then.” 

So they came to said monument, stopped for a bit and stretched their legs and took some time to rest. 

This monument marked the boundary (at least by San Andrean standards) between Faerun and Kara-Tur. The names of the continents were written as “Фаерун/Каратур” rather than “Фаэрун/Кара-Тур”, as San Andrean Russian had a slightly different orthography from Standard Russian. (5)

Vsevolod answered the text from his father, except Aigis had Makoto's phone with her because she charged her phone (said phone was in her sling bag and had a powerbank) and played Fridge Racer. 

“He says he got a Samogon engine yesterday and Mitsuru and Fuuka helped him. He’s also taking the sewage today.” Aigis told him.

“That’s good he’s getting help from his aunt. I feel ashamed we couldn’t help him.” He answered.

“That’s fine, I also feel the same, though we should make up time with him.” 

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” 

She replied to their son by wishing him the best and take a gas mask from Mitsuru. They agreed not to bother him for most of the time since it does take a lot of time building a car. Thank the gods, they arranged most things, like the know-how and certain plans. Their friends promised to help (in a perfective sense, see Russian perfective aspect; AKA they will really do it) Vsevolod and pester him about it anyway.

After talking to their son, Makoto and Aigis took breath taking views of the mountains and the monument. Good thing they have a bunch of cameras with them (well they’ll record whatever work happened, that’s why), because Makoto pulled out their personal camera and shot several photos of his wife and surroundings, and Aigis doing the same thing vice versa, then asking someone else to take photos of them holding hands. 

After taking photos, they walked to a nearby restaurant and saw the entire place filled with people. Then again it was summer vacation for everybody else. And when I mean entire place, no tables. There were numerous people in other restaurants, so they just took their army mess kits (from their army days) to that nearby restaurant and get whatever food they can get. The servings were enough to keep them full for almost 12 hours (it was actually soul food).

They went off again into the seemingly endless mountains and forests. They had some talk that strayed from their original topic, which was going out of their town and Rajderovsk. While the car was at 120km/h, Aigis opened a bottle of water. There were other bags of chips, but they’ll be used for another chapter. 

“So do you still remember the time we went outside our town and the cities?” Makoto asked, reaching for the bottle. His left hand was on the steering wheel, and the right hand’s thumb and index finger holding onto the 2L bottle of water. 

“Yeah. You rushed driving really fast that we were nearly caught by the GAI.” Aigis answered, emphasizing on “really”. She also drank water after Makoto took his sip. (6) 

“Oh yeah, you know, neither of us has ever been apprehended by the GAI or for the police for that matter. It’s a miracle considering all of those years we went outside of the country and sometimes had to deal with the ments, considering how dangerous our jobs were, we never got into jail.” 

“Yeah, I still remember bringing Ron’s ass home when he got caught in Hogwarts because he landed with a buncha guns because he had not much fuel left.”

“Well they did tell him to fuck off when we got him. Poor guy got traumatized. They said they mistook him from some American hitman. My gods, I thought. And I still remember when a couple thought we imitated their fashion sense.” 

“But anyway,” Makoto added. “What’s nice about these roads is that it’s as if the forest protects the roads.”

“Yeah, pretty much so.” It wasn’t really Aigis trying to be a show-off or trying to impress Makoto and vice versa, it was more of the fact that their commonality with one another attracted them, and whatever they did/said was simply a variation of whatever they did/said, unless tasks only involve one of them, such as driving. Otherwise, the only difference between them was mostly physical. 

Leaving the mountains and forests, they reached a rest area, at the edge of the last mountain they left. Finally, there were much rooms. In fact, they were fortunate their room was in front of their car. So they paid 20 rubles and got their room. 

Settling onto their room, they chose to watch the _Fourth Programme_ , which consisted of culture, documentaries and other programmes for students and intelligentsia. They watched three documentaries (that lasted 30 minutes each). First was about the first Victory Day Parade, almost 50 years ago. Second was about Terabithia as a tourist destination, and the third was about the Royal Family and their role in the development of San Andreas’ role as a technological power (read: really big role). It was 2200 and they were going to sleep for the next trip tomorrow that is, until Makoto got a text message from Trevor. Makoto pulled out his phone and read it. They waited for a message from Trevor for the past few days. Aigis leaned over to his side so she can read as well. Makoto moved the phone a bit so she can read it.

__“We’ll be coming there, at Sunday! How are you guys?” Trevor asked._ _

__“Everything’s good, we already got the cameras and the laptops.” Makoto texted._ _

__“It’s good, uh, we’ll come there this Sunday. We’ll meet at the Vank Hoff in Rajderovsk the day after.”_ _

__“Aight then. Talking of which, why were you guys taking so long?”_ _

__“Well… a shipment of ours… got busted.”_ _

__“Where? The one from Nelanther?”_ _

__“Yeah, from Nelanther.”_ _

__“Ah, fuck them! They hate guns for some reason. Sucks we lost the shipment though. Anything else?”_ _

__“The one we have right now is going on its way from LS to Rajderovsk.”_ _

__"Alright, then."_ _

__As the last message ended, Makoto asked Aigis._ _

__“You finished?”_ _

__“Yeah.”_ _

__“Aight, then. Looks like we gotta sleep.”_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was busy writing a prequel to this story and _Building an Old Car_ (yeah I’m also writing it as well). It fills other details: why Makoto and Aigis got a kid at 20; why they ended up in Angel Pine, 5000 kms away from their town; why his friends settled there as well; why did they work with Trevor; and so on. It also involved their adventures in arms dealing all while raising Vsevolod.  
> Also I have school, that’s why I’m kinda busy. And talking of which I might not work on the fics because I might do a lot of shit involving school.  
> 1\. There is no factory-setting 2107 made to run diesel, but 2107 diesels exist. Is it a conversion? No, but its Imaginationland, so in this case, the San Andreans a factory-made diesel (or should I say, moonshine). Like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhi-sY9JIyg  
> 2\. https://56nv.ru/sites/default/files/textnews_images/13538292344723.jpg and http://trans-continental.ru/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/1200px-%D0%93%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B0_%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B8%D1%8F-%D0%B5%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%B0-750x410.jpg  
> 3\. Džeter coming from the fact that Emmet’s voice is Eugene Jeter, jr. Again, Russified version of his name. https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Emmet  
> 4\. AKA Naoya Matsuoka  
> 5\. Like these https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/%D0%A0254_10.JPG and https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/%D0%A0254_12.JPG?uselang=ru  
> 6\. GAI or Russian for Государственная Автомобильная Инспекция – State Automobile Inspectorate. GAI was basically USSR’s road police. Except in this world of mine, it’s the Kingdom’s police and it’s got Полиция – oblast name/city name on the sides. Color format still follows like Soviet GAI police.


	4. Almost the Whole Day! (A bit of explicit)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some warning: the part has references to them having sex, and them singing a song involving sex. Also, some drug use.

So they got into a motel again? That’s good. But what was even better was that Makoto and Aigis’ hands were onto each other. Makoto had his hands on her exposed back and waist, while he buried his face in her neck. Aigis on the other hand, had her hands on his head and back, her chin rested on the top of Makoto’s head. 

It was Aigis who woke up first, feeling up Makoto, who was actually awake. It was their method of greeting each other a good morning. 

And unlike before, since they were so tired and the sleep was good anyway, they woke at 840. They ate a huge breakfast since it was going to be 900h anyway and they knew it was an even longer trip, moreso than usual. 

They left the motel an hour later and went on to the highway, going right to take the city's detour (it was a ring road that surrounded Kamperovo). It gave them a shortcut. They didn't go through the city because it had a massive festival that culminated in Victory Day celebrations.

They tried listening to the radio, listening to its news. The news had both good (e.g. a new upgrade for the San Andreans’ Su-30) and bad news, though these were problems involving technology, some social problems (such as the lack of guns in the eastern part of the country in ratio to the population, and the locals protesting already about it. They don't go "errything's fine") and other assorted news, like outside of the country, such as an airline pilots’ strike in Moonshae. For its ending song, their ears were treated to Igor Skljar's _Ja Ujedu V Komarovo_. They both sang to it because it really was a really good song. 

"На недельку, до второго  
Я уеду в Комарово  
Сам себя найду в пучине  
Если часом затону"

After that came West Coast hiphop filled the airwaves of their radio. They might not use their West Coast collection after all. However, the moment the West Coast hiphop ended, because it was 50 Cent, they used the actual collection. They did read on 50 cent and Ja Rule's feud and rooted for 50 Cent. 

“Aww, it’s 50 Cent again! Can’t they have something else, like Pauls or Hattori?” Aigis complained, then added, “Somebody’s not forgetting the fact not everyone’s a fan of 50 Cent.” (1)

“Looks like we’re going to use our collection.” Aigis and Makoto laughed as he took a DVD and placed it on the player. First thing was Eazy-E's/NWA’s _I’d Rather Fuck You_. It was their love song which they modified to their own needs. (2)

“I love to fuck you good, 

‘Cause I like the way you scream my name, 

I know you like this dick, 

Cause you enjoy the pleasure and pain!” Makoto sang in good Common, his face smiling, adding in “what pain?” He was playing with their CJD again. 

Aigis laughed at him out of his addition of funny lyrics (it was true, she never ever had pain, maybe because Makoto was such a good lovemaker) and how happy he was. It was one of those reasons (neither couldn't count why did they love each other) she loved him. 

She was playing the song with her fingers drumming the steering wheel as if it’s a piano. But she wasn’t completely distracted. So Makoto decided to stop talking and let the song play. 

“Daradaradarada, daradaradarada” she “sang” the instrumental part. "Hey," Makoto encouraged her, "sing your favourite part!", such as: 

"Now I'm riding on this dick here" she pointed at Makoto's... part. "And I'm not gonna stop!" She sang her part.

Coming to Kamperovo’s boundaries (because it had a welcome sign and a road sign that said “Обход города Камперова” – “Detour of Kamperovo"), they had some memories involving them in the city proper, especially buying a train wagon full of firearms. It was their first time purchasing an old stock of guns that were intended to be melted. It consisted of old weapons, such as PPŠ-41s, SVT-40s, DP-28s, Maxim machine guns and other assorted rifles once used by San Andrean soldiers or were old and unused stock. The guns they sold would have new lives and to be loved again. 

But to be fair, some of them were so damaged that only certain parts were retained, such as entire bolts, stocks or bipods. It did matter that Trevor hired them to become quality control inspectors of whatever gun they needed to sell. Otherwise, he would have a lot of work to do. 

“I remembered the time when we told Trevor to calm his ass own. You know, when we got the wagon of weapons.” 

“Hm, yeah.” Aigis answered. “He was so happy he even wanted to buy us two bottles of _Sovetskoe Šampanskoe_. You told him, no, it’s just a wagon! Maybe if we got an entire trainload we’d even buy two of them.” (3)

“He was too goddamn happy, to be fair. He wanted to have his own business outside of his family.” 

They also discussed this summer festival occurred for a week, culminating in Victory Day, which was going to happen a few days from now. 

“How do you think they’re going to do the celebrations?” Aigis asked as she looked at their car’s surroundings. 

“At the town?” Makoto answered with a question.

“Pretty much, yes.” 

“This is just me, perhaps they’re going to bring in something else. Last time, Koromaru brought pictures at his VK, showing the local unit as the main parade. 

The 2107’s path gradually widened as the 2 lane highway became a 4 lane road once more, because they were under the road known as "Chiliad". (4) They knew from the get go it was finally the outskirts of Kamperovo once again. Aigis and Makoto saw more things that weren’t really part of the city, but rather under the oblast. Such as the usual scenery porn consisting of forests, mountains and hills enjoyed along the road. Makoto spent time by playing with the CJD once again. 

They went through the marker between the two oblasts, a stone monument that had two signposts. One had the “Обианская” and “Камперовская”, both signs pointing to a certain direction, which in this case, was the oblast itself. In their case, they first saw the “Обианская”. Then there was a road sign that said “Attention! Strictly follow the rules of the road! This year, at the Isiemin road, 40 people have died and 154 have been injured.” 

“Shit!” Aigis exclaimed, then added, “Did you read the sign?”

“Yeah. The last time we went back home a few years ago, we saw some vehicle wrecks.” Makoto answered.

“Pretty much so. Hopefully there’s less accidents.” 

Then another road sign that detailed the distances from their current position. 

“Чаде 40  
Некидзе 205  
Обианск 760”

“Hmm, they replaced the new signs already. It’s a bit larger and they painted it blue.” 

“The last time we went home was 5 years ago, and yet there are a lot of changes. I mean, I expected that but it kinda shocks us.”

“Indeed.” 

“They’re nice to even give each side of the intersection a buncha pedestrian crossings, a bus stop and portable toilets.” 

So once again, they went on and on, looking at the usual scenery, except there were more forests and the usual fuel station and truck stop. While Aigis went on driving, then came their collection that Vsevoloduška downloaded for the three of them. It was none other than Pizzicato Five. While the 2107 cruised, a certain song involved wine, by Maki Nomiya. (5)

While the song went on, telling the listener about drinking if it was the last day of the narrator’s life, Makoto contextually asked Aigis to drink wine. 

“Godsdamn, Aigis, remind me that we should drink wine when we come home.” 

“When was the last time we did that? Either with or without Vsevolod and or Mitsuru?”

“Hmmm… two months ago, actually, with them. He just returned from Army service.” 

“And what if we don’t find any?” 

“Coke would be better. It’s probably easier to find, considering Hamuko and her weed and coke stash she and Akihiko sell once under the moon. But you know, we don’t even do coke.” (6 and 6.5)

“Yeah. I’d smoke a joint or two with you.”

“Ah, yeah. The last time we had joint was last December, you know, during New Year preparations. We had both wine AND joints, all thanks to Ken and The Truth.” 

“That, was the best shit we ever had! Daaamn!”

They were nearing Nekidze, but since they didn’t cross it anyway, they went through its ring road, on the outskirts of the city. Aigis also looked at the fuel’s gauge. It was already reaching empty. 

“Hey, Kotka, we’ll be refuelling again.” 

“Aight.” Makoto gave her a thumbs up while he read again a novelization of the game _7.62 High Calibre_. It was about a bunch of mercenaries trying to find a Russian businessman who stole a lot of money, then deal with some other problems. Both of them wrote a lot of comments on the margins, such as “The writer put in shit from the _Blue Sun mod_!” with a heart on it. It was actually their all-time favourite novel that even their son photographed it from the first page to the last so he can have a digital copy. 

They refuelled the car again for another 500 kilometres range. Once again, they went off for several more kilometres, until they saw their favourite café when they went back to their home Oblast. 

There was a café they knew (and visited when there’s a chance) that was along the road. It was called _Кафе «Hot Coffee»_. Was it related to the infamous mod? No, just the name. (7) 

Although I will make it a bit related because: 

Both of them agreed to drink coffee there. Although they loved coffee, they didn’t get much coffee, not because San Andreas did not have coffee or Ken not having coffee (nobody in Angel Pine or Flint made coffee), but because they were more used to drinking tea from 20-faceted table glasses with podstakanniks. 

“Aigis, you want some coffee?” Makoto asked, partially as a joke, and partially as an actual question. He asked this while they were going through the roads. 

Aigis struggled not to laugh as she kept driving. “Fucking hell, Makoto. I do want coffee, either the normal kind…” she couldn’t stop laughing. “Or the better kind.”

“Oh, hell yeah… but you are right though.” He answered with a grin.

“Though if I’m really serious… right now I do want the normal kind. But I also want the better kind, and that’s for later.” She added more, “Talking of which, we’re on the way to Hot Coffee.” Aigis suggestively raised her eyebrows twice, she even had a bigger grin. 

“Haha, good one, Aigis! Man, we should do it again, even if it was in the public. That is, if you want to.” Makoto kept laughing, but so did Aigis, because whenever they did it publicly, they were close to being caught. 

They ended up at said café. They also chatted with the owner, who happened to be the cousin of another café owner like him, named Sojiro. Makoto and Aigis met the Sojiro guy once, making and serving the best coffee they had in a long ass time. They greeted him. 

“Zdravstvujte, Sojiro Borisovič Sakura!” Makoto greeted Sojiro. (Russianized name - Содзиро/Sodziro) (8)

“Zdravstvujte. Makoto Rostislavovič and Aigis Takeharujevna! How’s the coffee here?” Sojiro asked. They knew each other because they befriended him while they were in Los Santos, having a double date with Junpei and Chidori. 

“It’s good like yours!” 

In fact, Sojiro was the one who served them their cake and coffee, rather than the actual owner, because the owner was making coffee for someone else.

“I once worked here. My uncle, Rodion, taught me how to make the best coffee.” 

“Gospodin Sakura, one of my neighbours, who also sells food and other goods, really likes your coffee so much, because we bought him some samples. We went to your daughter’s internet shop slash restaurant and encouraged us to get some of your coffee beans.” Aigis asked. 

“This neighbour of ours, Ken, he’s asking if you can supply him. He was going to ask you already, but he’s too busy with his store.” Makoto added.

“Yeah, sure!” He answered. “You can send him my business card.” Sojiro handed two business cards with his name, email and number on it. 

“Aight, I’ll tell him.” Makoto replied back. 

After they thanked Sojiro and the owner, and left the café, satisfied with the coffee and cake they had (and telling Ken the contact details), they went off. 

After that, they passed through two more road construction sites. One lane was being rebuilt, along with another set of lanes being built, while the other road can only allow the other side of the traffic to cross through. It took them time, so Aigis watched Makoto play the CJD, a game called _Morning Missile Crisis_ It was a different take on the original game, published several years ago. Instead of shooting out nuclear missiles, you were to play as a rocket artillery commander, firing BM-21 rockets or Scud missiles at certain targets, such as: infantry concentrations, fortifications and tanks. But the disadvantage was that each weapon had a certain loading time, and they couldn’t just shoot away.  
“You’ve tried shooting at tanks?” Asked Aigis as she drank some water. 

“Yeah,” Makoto answered, trying to decide between fortifications and infantry concentrations. “They’re out now, but I have a few more missiles left. I’m deciding between fortifications and infantry.” 

“Suit yourself, I’ll play the next mission after yours.” Once Aigis ended her sentence, Makoto decided to shoot Scuds at the fortifications. 

“Aight then.” Said Makoto, as he finally finished the mission. Right at that time, their car and other vehicles got their turn to move, so Aigis put down the handbrake and drove at a 25 km/h mark, since the road had a sign that allowed drivers to only go at a 30 km/h mark. 

After several more hours, going through the highway, they were tired and got to a rest area. They also realized it was already 030. 

“Damn, I didn’t know we’re that long driving, how many hours was that?” Aigis asked, yawning.

“I think we had 13 hours in total, including the time we were at Hot Coffee.” Makoto answered, also with a yawn. 

“Haha, good thing! We’re getting onto the rest area again.” She answered as she drove to a rest area, just on the outskirts of Obiansk. It was the small, just like the other rest areas they went through. They left the car and went to the reception.

“Any room?” Aigis asked. 

“Yeah, just one left. It’s 30 rubles for the night.” Said the receptionist. Aigis produced 1 x 5 ruble and 1 x 25 ruble bills from her wallet. 

“The room is at 1A.” The receptionist answered her and gave her the key. She also pointed that it was just nearby. 1A was actually a few steps away. 

“Thank you!” Aigis thanked the receptionist. 

The two of them were so tired they didn’t even change their clothes. Well they did turn on the fan, but they were too tired. 

“Damn, that coffee hit us good!” Makoto told her as they slowly drifted off to sleep. 

“Yeah…” was all she can say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should be giving a damn about Truck Drivers, but I'm too anxious about schoolwork. Also I'm deciding how will the story of Truck Drivers go, like Auf Achse or just like ETS 2. But anyway:
> 
> I was going to originally write them driving through the city itself and have some huge ass detour, but instead, google maps showed me the way. 
> 
> Once again, Kemperovo’s etymology refers to the idea of “camping”, as in World of Tanks camping as a tactic. You never move, you just stay there and pray your enemy comes so you can shoot him/her off. It’s basically sniping without ever moving. It’s not recommended for tanks in general, unless you’re artillery or a tank destroyer. It’s that reason (tanks and camping) that got its two names: Kemperovo and Tankograd. Then again, I based the city off Čeljabinsk, also called Tankograd. 
> 
> 1 - Raimonds Pauls and Katsuhisa Hattori. Also yeah, 50 Cent and Ja Rule had a feud.  
> 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxY___mqgZw  
> 3 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovetskoye_Shampanskoye  
> 4 - Corresponds to real life Ural Highway, or Автодорога Урал in Russian.  
> 5 - Original version here:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvJ_nhHDQuc  
> Covers/remakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqA9rY9MHd0, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_3dYnTtO6Y or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2cKOP3TXZM. Take your poison :DDD AKA Pizzicato Five's _Drinking Wine_ /テーブルにひとびんのワイン. Lyrics are found here. http://www.metrolyrics.com/drinking-wine-lyrics-pizzicato-five.html  
> 6 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzrfMZIqEY0. NWA's _Don't Drink That Wine_  
>  6.5 - Yeah, drugs are legal in Imaginationland, except Spank and Zap. Do they consume drugs? Some weed and LSD. Otherwise, that’s it, because most other drugs like coke are legal but they’re pretty expensive, and they’re not into the whole speed thang. Everyone (e.g. Makoto, Aigis, Cloud, Aerith) buy some weed and LSD but not high end and (considered legal) drugs like coke.  
> or both?  
> 7 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Coffee_mod  
> 8 - Russian has its own transliteration for Japanese. E.g.: Мицуру Киридзо instead of Митсуру Кириджо. But in this case I decided to write their names in Hepburn when writing in English. Also greeting uses patronymic and so and so.  
> See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polivanov_system


	5. A Major Detour

Normally, you’d expect them to change mentally because they’re in a 2107 for several days straight, but I’ll fill in that issue by telling the reader this: They’re used to it, because they’ve been traveling around Faerun and Kara-Tur as a job (selling guns, checking caches if they’re good or not, protecting arms transports at certain times) and they’re always together, most of the time, bringing their son along. 

Did it cause them problems when they first did it? Yes, of course, driving from Rajderovsk to Los Santos (4,500 kilometers) tired them although for some reason they survived through it. But humans are humans, irrational beings they are, they didn’t give up because of their child, their parents, Aigis’ sister, their friends…

But anyway… 

Unlike the previous days, they woke up to a rainy day. Neither heavy, nor light. They had Afghanka kepis for that reason, which covered their faces from the rain. Good thing those track jackets were good enough not to sweat them out or drench them in the rain. 

“What’s the time?” Makoto asked. 

“5:30. I’m not asleep.” Aigis answered. 

“Holy fuck. It’s nice we woke early.”

Aigis reached for his head, massaging his scalp and kissing his forehead. It wasn’t because “It’s your time now to drive.” It was more of a habit of hers. Makoto did the same thing as well, but hers was more pronounced. On the other hand, he liked nuzzling himself underneath her neck. They were onto each other until a phone message buzzed Makoto. He then opened it up and read the message. 

“Kotuška, where are you guys?” It was Maksim. They told his family they’d be coming. His family didn’t bother them because they understood how tiring driving was. 

He texted his cousin. “We’re at Obiansk. Have my parents gotten a phone yet?” 

“Oh, that’s good. Unfortunately not.” 

Then Makoto shifted from the messages to another app, which was a browser. Looking at his cellphone, Makoto found out that the main road from the current city to the next, which was Isshidan’, was under construction. Thus, they would have to take another road, which was a bit longer than the one under construction. 

“We’re going to take a bit longer than expected.” 

“Why though?” Aigis asked. She read a news on the dismantling of “Sweet” missiles. The last time the missiles were used was 53 years ago, during the last war in Imaginationland.  
Talking of which, they should visit their town’s war memorial once they come home, on Monday itself, which was Victory Day. 

“The road we usually use going home? It’s being rebuilt. Like all of its lanes.” 

“Oh, that’s why.” 

“Hey, what have you been reading?” 

“Well, they’re dismantling the “Sweet” missiles.” 

“Oh I see. Seems the Kingdom’s going to “dismantle” and replace them with new ones, also now that one of Lordaeron’s territories had just defeated their government, with our country’s support of course.” They donated some anti-tank missiles and old anti-tank rifles (PTRDs and Type 97 rifles) some years before, free of charge. In fact, while they didn’t write out their names or sent letters to its receivers, they were surprised when they were sent a letter by a unit, written in perfect Russian, thanking them for their help.

“At least we won’t be taking some other road.” 

After eating a light breakfast, Makoto and Aigis went off, wearing said track jackets and Afghanka kepis, in case there was rain (it stopped), although they removed it once they got in. As usual, before leaving again, they inspected their car, which had nothing to worry about except to feed said car with moonshine. 

Before leaving, Makoto randomly took a DVD from their collection. It was the entire Toho Bossa Nova set, in one DVD. 

As usual, Makoto drove smoothly without any hitches, since San Andreas had a mostly good road system and there wasn’t much traffic in the city itself. What was also in their background was jazz music. More specifically Bossa Nova, because the Inn’s manager wanted to play it. Like his wife before him, he sometimes overtook other vehicles, but only when the road was flat and there weren’t any other vehicles in sight. “The last time we drove through this area, was 17 years ago,” Makoto told her. “You know, when we protected Trevor’s ZiL?” It was another job of theirs, protect vehicles carrying weapons, although the last time they did it was 15 years ago. 

But as they were going to take the detour, they found out the detour was also being repaired, so Makoto had to change to another detour, which was also nearby. It had a road sign, detailing the next cities and towns, and their distances, such as Rajderovsk, which was 820 kilometres away. 

“Well, shit, I didn’t expect that.” Makoto noted. 

“Me neither.” Aigis added. 

“Let’s take the other route.” 

As Makoto changed direction, Aigis took a USB stick which had the TOHO Bossa Nova collection and installed it into the vehicle’s audio system.  
With nothing to do but listen, Makoto talked about their adventures outside the country, most notably the internet in the places they visited outside San Andreas. 

“I still remember that when we went to Baldur’s Gate for some arms expo, you downloaded the collection while we were talking to a bunch of Terabithian customers.” Makoto asked. 

“Well, the SanNet was faster at the city, not like Neverwinter or even Waterdeep’s SanNet. And I had nothing to do but download and watch some movies.” Aigis added. Makoto laughed because he did the same thing. 

“Talking of which, any idea about Rodiongrad’s SanNet?”

“No, but I heard it was fast enough. It’s like Los Santos’ and Flint’s SanNet, but ours is faster, from what I heard.” 

Save for the once in a while landmark, like a bridge, a small village on the right or left side of the main road, the roads were far more monotonous (consisting of forests) than before. However, what was also seen were armies of young adults planting trees, so to replace harvested trees.

In their case, they worked replacing old weapons (SKS, SVT, AKM rifles) with newer ones (e.g. AK-74s) so in the case of a war, the country’s subjects would have better weapons, while the old ones were either resold at some other place, kept in their armoury, or sold by them to other countries. Most of these weapons were leftover weapons that nobody possessed or were used during the last war and had no owner. If they didn’t help lift weapons from their racks with new ones, they escorted trucks that transported them.

In fact, Makoto and Aigis still sold weapons, except the new weapons would be refurbished AK-74s and AK-12s, along with some PKMs that were to replace sold or rusted ones, Kord machine guns, new RPG-7s (if the old ones were rusted) and some RPG-29s and Smel thermobaric launchers. They did have a lot of knowledge about it, so there was nothing to worry about, if they were going to sell it again. 

What they didn’t also expect was a close friend of theirs, not as close as Junpei, Chidori or the rest of the circle, but was also an arms dealer just like them. They once met him as part of their work, rearming the residents of Hikanovskaja Oblast (located near the border with Shou Lang (1), with new weapons, like AK-74s and AK-74Ms. At that time, the Kingdoms had a border dispute over several islands and fought each other over influences in certain countries. San Andreas was paranoid enough that it was prepared to deal with any direct invasion plans from its neighbour. He was also Makoto’s distant cousin. 

It led them to a small, mountainous town called Izugovo, bustling with activity because it was home to a factory sized greenhouse that produced wheat all-year long, alongside being an attraction for most travellers. 

They parked the 2107 by the roadside, going to drink bottles of Kvass. They had their bottles with them, and there were a small line of people also waiting to have their bottles filled with the drink, from a tank that had “КВАС” written on its side. Makoto and Aigis paid the vendor, a middle-aged woman, and went left the tank. Back at the car, they drank the kvass slowly.

For a while, they also returned, to the delight of the vendor. 

While looking at the general scenery, consisting of vehicles passing through the two-lane road, Makoto spotted something. A red MAZ-6303, with a trailer. Makoto recognized the vehicle plate at first, thinking that it belonged to that man. 

“Could this be Iwai?” He could see the vehicle plate (why yes, they had nice photographic memory), which had the letters “2740 ЛПН”. He was certain it was Iwai. And indeed the man replacing not one but two tyres was none other than Iwai and a younger man. It was his son. 

Iwai’s son saw the couple and waved at them, then called his father, who saw them and waved at them as well. 

“Oh, hey, it’s Iwai.” Makoto told Aigis as he saw the man at a distance. Iwai waved again. When they approached Iwai, he approached them as well. 

“Gospodin and Gospoza Yuki! Nice to meet you! What brings you here?” Iwai bowed. In response, the two shook his hand. It was more of Iwai’s habit than actual protocol. If there were protocols, he wouldn’t bow already in the first place. 

“The usual. We’re visiting his parents and his cousins.” Aigis answered.

“Oh that’s why.” 

Makoto then added. “You need help?” 

“Naw, I’m just putting up these tyres. I’m going to the city though, the arms festival, then I’ll meet you guys afterward.” Iwai answered. Makoto and Aigis knew the context, it was Rajderovsk, which had an arms festival. 

“For the arms festival?” 

“Yes, actually.”

“What happened though?” Aigis interjected. 

“They blew out on me. I forgot to replace the tires.” 

“Do you need help?” Makoto asked. 

“Not really, I just finished fixing. Do you guys want a break?” Iwai asked.

“Yeah, sure, why not?” Makoto answered. 

“Yeah, I agree.” Aigis added.

So the three of them decided to take a break. Makoto and Aigis went for a piss (a toilet was nearby), and after that went chatting again mostly about their jobs and their families. Iwai was happy enough he recently married, since he can finally have someone to take care of his son, together. 

But for a while, they decided to resume driving again, since they still had to go to their respective places, Iwai directly to the city (he did have distant cousins there to help his ass), while Makoto and Aigis to the city and their hometown. He also changed the music from Toho Bossa Nova (which had already ended), to something else, which in this case, was the music group from Belarus/Belarusian SSR, called Verasy, followed by a compilation of Lo-Fi music. Since he was busy driving, he was mostly humming, until that is… he heard his wife play a game from their CJD.

“Hey, where are you at Morning Missile Crisis?” Makoto asked as he heard the distinct sound of its background music, which didn’t really fit into the theme of the game. It was more of hiphop for something serious. 

“The 7th mission.” Aigis answered as she looked to the mission briefing, reading it slowly. 

“Yeah, that’s going to be a pain in the ass. You’re dealing with the Vagos. At least the Ballas are far easier to deal with.” 

“Ah, shit. Thanks for reminding me, I just stocked up on BM-21s, 5 scud missiles, and artillery strikes.” 

“Well, go use the Scuds on the last leg of the mission. BM-21s should be your primary weapon, regardless if it’s tanks or infantry.” 

“Anything else, for advice?

“Not much. I’m not even finished yet. I’m on the 7th mission as well.” 

“Ah, that’s why.” 

“Come to think of it,” Makoto asked as he looked at the opposite lane, because he wanted to overtake another car. “how’s the grinding?” 

“Of?” 

“War Thunder. I haven’t played it before we went off.” 

“Yeah… I’m getting close to the I-185 one.”

“Thanks, Aigis. I knew I’d count on you.” 

“With pleasure, Makoto. You plan to get the helicopters as well?” 

“We should. It’s far easier with a helicopter sometimes. I heard the Mi-24 kicks ass.” 

“Talking of which, how’s the vehicle tech tree?” 

“I’m right at the IS-2 part.” 

In fact, they brought their laptops with them so they can play War Thunder while they’re at Makoto’s childhood home. They went on talking about War Thunder, until they changed another topic, which was about World of Tanks. 

It was getting really dark, at 2100, and they decided to reach the nearest stop they could reach, which was on the outskirts of the city of Novoaztekajsk. (2) But there was one problem, there were no parking spaces, and they were dead tired. 

“Aww, shit! Everyone took the parking space!” 

“Ahhhh…” Aigis whined a bit. 

But they tried to seek another rest area. 

“Makoto, we should look to the other rest area.” 

“The one nearest to it?” 

“Yeah.” 

“I was thinking of the same idea.”

“Let’s keep going then.” Makoto went on as he was reaching the other rest stop. And fortunately, they got into one. They were allowed by the receptionist (the only reason they can say no is there is no space at all) to park and sleep in their car. The restaurant was also closed, so they ate at a nearby canteen, which was open 24/7. 

Once returning to the car, they arranged the car’s rear seats so they can sleep again. Set up some boxes, cover the windows with cardboard and the windshield cover, and put down the frontal seats. They were so tired that they didn’t open up their phones or the CJD compact at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to write about except a note. I didn't write much for this chapter since I'm still thinking of other ideas, so it won't be completely repetitive (although I'm thinking of Aigis meeting Maya Amano or Cisco from GTA Advance). 
> 
> 1\. Shou Lang - Pinyinized version of Shou Lung. https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Shou_Lung


End file.
